Hospital morgue filled with bodies
By PETER MIVA and DULCIE OREKE AIHI
THE Angau Memorial Hospital morgue in Lae is filled beyond its holding capacity with unclaimed dead bodies, prompting hospital management to call on relatives to collect them quickly.
In response to queries raised about the morgue, the hospital’s public relations office confirmed yesterday that there were currently more than 70 bodies crammed into the morgue.
About 20 of them were children.
It said as the hospital was not responsible for funeral arrangements and burials, relatives were urged to remove the bodies in time to prevent congestion and overcrowding which would affect the morgue’s refrigeration system.
The hospital keeps a body for only seven days and relatives must collect bodies after that.
The hospital may be forced to seek the coroner’s approval for a mass burial.
Once the approval is given, a mass burial will be arranged at Lae’s Second Seven cemetery.
The hospital morgue has a capacity for only 40 bodies.
A refrigerated container is also being used.
The mortuary keeps a corpse as long as it is necessary for identification purposes, post mortem examination or when the body is awaiting burial and not for long-term storage.
The problem came to light after a Filipino was put in a special freezer donated by Papindo last Sunday outside the morgue after he died in a fatal road accident at 42- Mile along the Highlands Highway.
Rommel de Leon, who worked as a plant manager at Laga Industries in Lae, met with the accident at 2pm after fishing and having lunch with his Filipino friends at Rumion Farm outside Lae.
According to friends and workmates who were at the scene, he was driving back and had tried to overtake another car when a huge truck carrying two containers rammed him.
De Leon’s car broke into three pieces and he was thrown about 5m off the road after hitting a concrete electrical post.
He broke his head while his car overturned several times before landing on him.
De Leon was brought to Tusa private hospital and then to Angau hospital.
His relatives alleged that there was no one to assist them.
De Leon’s body was flown to Bacolod, Philippines where his wife Marilou, three children and grandchildren are staying.
Bacolod is another plane ride from Manila, as it is in the Visayas Islands.
Meanwhile, hospital authorities urged relatives in Lae and Morobe to remove the bodies for decent burials.
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